Some of the ratings seem to me a bit hard to rationalize. As a Mark Webber fan, i'll pick the two out that stood out to me.


Ben Anderson:



Sorry Ben, but how can Vettel leave Webber 'trailing in his wake' yet 'find the going tougher than he did in '09' given the gap between them at the end of the year was 14.5 points!? So Vettel's going to win by less than 14.5 points? If so, how would that be leaving Webber trailing in his wake? If Webber lost to Vettel by less than 14.5 points, that's hardly a beating.

and:

Jamie O'Leary



How does Vettel win the title, yet Red Bull only finish 3rd? Are you saying that Vettel's going to get 80% of Red Bull's points and Red Bull's going to be a complete one car team? Webber's going to drive like a pleb all year? Do the maths man! It's highly unlikely based on last year, and I dont think you've put a lot of thought into those predictions. If RBR are going to finish as low as 3rd yet Vettel take the drivers title, it's going to mean a near-complete demolition of Webber.


I'm sure others are looking at various predictions that impact their driver or team, and just shaking their heads too.

Well, obviously Webber is going to suck the hind teat (again) this year

You shouldn't take these polls so seriously... poor old Nico didn't even get a vote!

(to the original post) I think you may find the first example is a matter of clarity..... Vettel "find(ing) the going tougher than he did in 09" probably is meant overall Red Bull not having such a front running car. Which is not to suggest I agree, just that I think this is what he meant by the comment. Yes the predicted winning of a title by Vettel while Webber doesn't feature in the top five is a bit tough on Mark. I would have thought he showed enough in 09 that he was genuine winner class even if his younger teammate has more potential for growth.

Your admission of being a fan of MW is far more transparent than the implied derision of the two scribes. But then people can be very polarised about drivers.....
I prefer taking it on a season by season basis - Massa has well eclipsed his old reputation for being a disaster zone and is now (brain injury allowing) a top 5 or so F1 driver.

Not really - European journalists aren't remotely interested in the efforts of Antipodeans. You've not noticed their attitude in the last ... oh ....... 30 or 40 years? Maybe we should adopt the Euro.

You're dealing with the opinions of individuals - there's always going to be some form of bias, and to be perfectly honest, the expectation of a journalist taking an interest in every single driver to the same extent is an unreasonable expectation - they are "popularists" by their very nature. They get easily distracted by bright shiny new things, in fact if you take a torch to a race and start swishing it around, you could probably lead 70% of F1 journalists straight out of the gates.

It's no different to their complete disregard for the current World Champion. You'd have thought Jenson had retired or something.

It's an opinion piece, and they're allowed their opinions. You just have to wait till the end of the season to feed them some humble pie, or to admit that they were spot on and your opinion was wrong. It's no major really.